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Terror Evolves from ‘Stone-Throwing to Shooting’

Former IDF chief rabbi, Brigadier General Rabbi Avichai Rontzki, called on the Israeli government Thursday to decisively end the latest wave of terror before it explodes.

Noting that the current wave of violence is nothing new, Rabbi Rontzki said: "My children and grandchildren are also traveling on the roads day and night, and as someone who served for many years as the head of a regional brigade in the Samaria Division, I can confidently we're talking about a fixed script."

"They start with general riots," Rontzki explained to Arutz Sheva, "stones and firebombs, and if they detect a weakness they carry out shootings, and that's exactly what we're experiencing now."

Rabbi Rontzki offered that the IDF should bring back the sniper squads it has used in the past to help quell violent riots, because of the deterrence they provide.

"I remember when I was a commander, there were army snipers shooting at stone-throwers. They would shoot to the lower body, and hit the same stone-throwers who now risk traveling on the roads."

"Unfortunately, when terrorists identify weaknesses, they forego stones and firebombs and move on [to worse actions]," Rontzki said. "We're not talking about individual people, but terrorists that know they can escape because there's not enough of a military presence."

"We need to create an inclusive system in which not even one stone is thrown, that no one would even dare," he stressed.

"My fear is that after shootings on the roads, it will become break-ins in communities," Rontzki said, arguing that the brutal murder of the Fogel family in Itamar was a result of ignoring stone-throwing attacks.

Rontzki also called for stricter penalties for terrorists, stressing "the Justice Ministry must exact the harshest punishments for hostile actions, including the death penalty to deter murderers," as well as house demolitions.